Despite the great empathy W.N. Ferris showed for students in his letters, he did not
show the same sympathy to students when he talked to them. Most students thought that
he was sarcastic and autocratic. He was not much for small talk and really did not
like to talk to students in their own language. Sometimes he would cross the street
to avoid walking with a student or group of students. If it were a female student
and he was smoking his cigar, he always crossed the street to avoid the "young lady,"
explaining that a gentleman should not smoke in the company of a lady, even outside.

Sometimes he would cross the street to avoid walking with a student or group of students.

But when one of the students contracted typhoid fever, Mr. Ferris personally saw to
it that the student had constant care. He kept the parents and grandmother informed
with frequent progress reports. When the parents came to visit their son, W.N. Ferris
invited them to stay in his home. After the young man got well, Mr. Ferris assured
the parents that they need not rush to pay the medical expenses that their son had
accumulated.

On another occasion, when a student died and the ground was too frozen to bury him,
Mr. Ferris allowed the body to be placed in his own mausoleum until the spring thaw.